This paper aims to investigate the impact of blockchain technology (BT) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure, with a particular focus on the role of environmental performance among European firms.
This study tests hypotheses regarding the moderating role of environmental performance in the relationship between BT and CSR disclosure. The analyzed sample includes 297 European firms listed on the STOXX Europe 600 index, over the period 2013–2023, resulting in 3,267 firm-year observations.
The results of this study reveal a significant positive relationship between the adoption of BT and enhanced CSR disclosure. Additionally, environmental performance acts as a significant moderating factor, indicating that firms with strong environmental practices may perceive less need to adopt BT for transparency, while those with weaker practices could benefit substantially from its implementation.
The findings of this study suggest that firms considering the integration of BT into their CSR strategies should take their environmental performance into account. Transparency and the use of BT have proven to be crucial for enhancing credibility in CSR reporting.
This paper enriches the existing literature by investigating the impact of BT on CSR disclosure, while highlighting the moderating role of corporate environmental performance in European firms. By integrating voluntary disclosure and legitimacy theories, this study provides new theoretical insights into how firms’ environmental performance influences the adoption of blockchain to enhance transparency and credibility in CSR reporting. This study also offers empirical evidence from a large and recent data set of European firms, thereby contributing to both theory and practice.
